


Good For You

by shiroics



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, Everyone else is there but that's a lot of characters, Fluff and Humor, I just want my boys to be happy okay, M/M, POV Outsider, Post Season 07, Shiro likes pet names, not really that racy but i don't want to corrupt the youth, technically canon if you pretend season 8 didn't happen, there's a tiny bit of an authority kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 21:41:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18126839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiroics/pseuds/shiroics
Summary: Nadia wants to know if there’s something Shiro is bad at, but she finds out more than she bargained for.“He can’t be good at everything.” Nadia insists. “Maybe he’s a bad kisser.”Keith, whose eyes never stray from Shiro’s perfect form, exhales sharply. “He’s not.”





	Good For You

**Author's Note:**

> Baby's first Voltron fic.

In the tumultuous times following the breakdown of an empire that overstayed its welcome by ten thousand years, there is a universal fact that’s as true as Newton’s Laws of Motion: if Takashi Shirogane is just a man on a great fitness program, then hell is just a sauna.

No one can give a name to the quality that makes Shiro the Hero otherworldly, but it’s hardly a surprise that the man who devoted his life to reaching the stars possesses an unusual amount of star power. The physique that would make Hercules weep with jealousy is just a bonus.

Rizavi, Leifsdottir and McClain are watching Competent and Charismatic Captain Shirogane spar with the level nine combat bots on the Atlas’ training deck when Nadia asks, “Is there anything he isn’t good at?”

They all pause. There’s no doubt that the paladins and the MFE pilots are a head above the rest — there’s been talk of naming an international holiday in their honour to acknowledge the role they played in defending Earth — but their achievements pale in comparison to those of their fearless leader.

In his relatively short career, Shiro has been the Garrison’s star pilot, the Galra’s Champion and the universe’s Black Paladin, and his new position as captain of the Atlas is hardly a downgrade. Shiro is proof that mediocrity does _not_ reign supreme (despite what the sad and beleaguered tell themselves).

In a world of mere mortals, Shiro is a god — a Titan among men.

Shiro made abduction by aliens look like a minor hurdle rather than a career-and-life-ending disaster, and one he overcame to ascend to stardom for the second time. Everyone (read: the Galaxy Garrison) conveniently forgets that Shiro was once tainted goods with _pilot error_ stamped across anything he’d ever touched.

Now he’s the Garrison’s golden boy again with the weight of the world settled firmly on his perfectly sculpted shoulders. There’s no one else in the observable universe who can make crushing responsibility look so good.

Like a phoenix, Takashi Shirogane has been unmade and remade over and over again, and each time he rises from the ashes better, stronger and hotter than before.

Keith is also sitting with them, but unlike Nadia, Ina and Lance, he seems to be watching their fearless leader flex his impressive muscles for educational purposes rather than the superficial reason that drew Nadia to the training deck in the first place.

Nadia isn’t surprised; Keith has always been single-minded in his dedication for improvement, and Shiro is the perfect specimen in the study of achieving excellence. He might also be purposely ignoring the conversation to his left, which is always a real possibility with Keith.

“Shirogane’s physical build — sometimes referred to as a ‘body that would make a Dorito jealous’ — as well as his impressive muscle-to-fat ratio enables him to excel at any physical activity,” says Ina, which isn’t really helpful because _everyone_ knows that _._ In a world of technological innovation, Shiro is a natural phenomenon — proof that man’s rockets and his engineered medicines pale in comparison to the wonder of biology at work. It’s impossible to miss the ripple of Shiro’s biceps and the flex of his calves as he methodically defeats bot after bot. It’s practically the beginning of a soft-core video.

They all also know Shiro is kind, intelligent and brave. His ass looks great in his armour. He can bench press more than Hunk without breaking a sweat. He’s unbeatable at arm wrestling. Most importantly, he cares about his team and his comrades. He’s the whole package, but there _has_ to be something he’s bad at.

“Baking?”

“Hunk likes his cupcakes.”

“Cleaning?”

“His office is _pristine_.”

“Piloting?”

They all snort. The dark days of _pilot error_ are far behind them now.

“Personal hygiene?”

Nadia recalls one of the few times she’d gotten close enough to Shirogane to smell him. He’d smelled like cedar and citrus, and it had been divine. Plus, his skin is flawless. She’d need a microscope to see his pores.

“Grammar?”

Everyone knows about Shiro’s meticulously edited comms.

“He probably can’t sing,” Nadia says. That has to be it — lots of people can’t sing. It wouldn’t be that surprising if Shiro’s singing voice sounded like a donkey’s bray.

Of course, she’s never been in the showers with Shiro who feels no shame — and shouldn’t feel any shame — about being buck naked while belting out the soundtrack to Coran’s latest musical obsession (lately it’s been operas). Nadia’s room is across from Coran’s, and she doesn’t want to hear another trill for the rest of her life.

“He can,” Lance says. “It’s heavenly.”

“He can’t be good at everything.” Nadia insists. “Maybe he’s a bad kisser.”

The three of them eye each other uneasily. They’re tiptoeing around dangerous territory, and no one wants to be the person who goes too far. They all love Shiro and want him to be happy, but it’s easier to look their fearless leader in the eye when they pretend that his libido is as non-existent as his upper right arm.

Keith, whose eyes never stray from Shiro’s perfect form, exhales sharply. “He’s not.”

“At this point, it’s a fifty-fifty chance we misheard him,” Ina says.

Lance has no such doubts. “He’s not _what_?” he screeches, his voice reaching a pitch that would put Shiro’s impromptu opera show in the showers to shame. “Say it again, Mullet. I dare you.”

Keith shrugs, his attention still on Shiro. Nadia begins to think that the reason why Keith is so focused on the fight is not because he wants to improve his own style, but rather for the same reason she and Ina are braving the training deck’s hard bleachers. She can’t be certain why Lance is there, but it’s likely that Shiro is a main factor in his decision. Everyone loves a hero — especially when that hero looks the way Shiro does.

Shiro beats the level and ends the training sequence. He also treats his audience to a glimpse of something that might possibly be a ten pack when he wipes his face with the front of his t-shirt.

Nadia feels her soul leave her body and transcend to the astral plane.

Keith leaves with Shiro. Statistics are more Ina’s thing, but Nadia thinks there’s a hundred per cent chance that she and the others have missed something crucial. She voices this much to Ina and Lance.

“There are other factors we have to take into account,” Ina points out. “But in this situation, I think you might be right.”

_________________

By fourteen-hundred hours, Lance is in full meltdown mode. He calls an emergency meeting without actually mentioning that the emergency in question is related to the possible existence of Shirogane’s sex life and not an impeding alien invasion.

Nevertheless, it’s immensely satisfying to see the look on Griffin’s face when he realizes the meeting’s topic after rushing from the opposite end of the Atlas five minutes after Lance sent the comm.

“So what you’re saying is that Keith _might_ have said that Shiro was good at kissing?” Pidge asks. Beside her, Griffin groans and buries his head in his hands. He still looks a bit flushed from his sprint, and Nadia thinks he should ask Shiro for some tips on building up his stamina.

“He definitely said it,” Lance insists, voice rising with every word. “Nadia and Ina were there.”

All eyes turn to them, and Ina shrugs. “It was originally fifty-fifty, but after accounting for background noise, Kogane’s natural volume, and his behaviour after said statement, the probability that we heard him correctly is eighty-one percent. I’m rounding the percentage to a whole number, which, of course, isn’t exact.”

Lance slaps his hand on the table. “I swear on my La Mer mask that Nadia said ‘maybe he’s a bad kisser,’ and Mullet said ‘he’s not.’”

“They’re probably banging, then,” says Kinkade. Nadia can’t tell if he’s serious or not. It’s more than likely that he’s just trying to get a rise out of Lance. He’s succeeding — Lance looks like he’s on the verge of a conniption.

“What is this … _banging_?” Allura asks delicately. Romelle nods vigorously beside her.

Kinkade blinks. “Like, sex.” The Alteans stare at him blankly. “Fucking? The horizontal tango? The dance with no pants? Mating?” he explains, so obviously unequipped to give the sex talk to two aliens.

Romelle’s eyes light up. “Mating! Like the animals?”

“Sure,” says Kinkade, obviously regretting his decision to comment on the status of Keith and Shiro’s relationship. Everyone also regrets his decision — they were happy not knowing how many synonyms for sex Kinkade could list off at a moment’s notice.

Griffin screams into his hands. Nadia is sure he wishes that he’d just ignored Lance’s comm.

_________________

For the next few days, Keith and Shiro appear unaware of the combined scrutiny of the paladins and the MFE pilots. Nadia becomes uncomfortably aware of how oblivious they’ve been, and it makes her worry about the future of the universe.

Keith and Shiro aren’t subtle.

They’re constantly touching. Either Shiro’s hand is on Keith’s shoulder, or they’re pressed hip to hip, or Keith’s hand is on Shiro’s arm. They arrive at breakfast and depart for bed at the same time. Nadia chooses not to mention that to Lance because she wouldn’t put it past him to stakeout their rooms to confirm that they’re sleeping together.

And the looks — oh, God, the _looks —_ they share are so full of love and adoration that Nadia thinks she would rather walk in on them naked than get caught between one of those looks.

Even the way Keith says _yes, sir_ during training exercises between the Atlas, Voltron and the MFEs becomes unbearable as Keith’s deference takes on a new meaning.

Everyone’s sanity is hanging by a thread, and they only have themselves to blame.

_________________

Lance catches Keith and Shiro making out in an empty hallway, and it’s all over for them.

Nadia swears that Lance’s scream rattles the Garrison’s windows in their frames. He drags the two to another “emergency meeting” where he insists laying the charges against a bemused Shiro and an irritated Keith. Griffin is ten minutes late, and by the time he arrives, Shiro’s face matches Keith’s favorite jacket, and Keith looks like he’s on the verge of committing a mass murder.

“Are you dating?” Lance prods. Keith burrows further into his chair. No one misses the concerned look Shiro shoots in his direction. Everyone’s days of blissful ignorance are over; no tender smile, no brushing of the hands, or sneaky kiss will go unnoticed. Their eyes are open, and they’re ready. “Shiro, don’t tell me you’re making a dishonest man of my boy here.”

Shiro wilts, and Nadia bets that he’d rather spend an eternity on the astral plane than justify Lance’s question with an answer.

“I’m not your boy,” Keith mutters furiously.

Shiro envelops one of Keith’s hands with his own, and Keith relaxes under his touch. It’s not a surprise to anyone that Shiro is meeting all of the criteria of the perfect boyfriend.

Show solidarity with his significant other? Check.

Demonstrate physical attraction to his significant other? If the hickey below Keith’s left ear is anything to go on, then check.

“We’re dating,” he says firmly. “We thought you guys knew.”

Show pride in his relationship? Check.

Everyone avoids looking at each other. No one wants to admit that they can’t recognize a healthy, loving relationship even if it has been eye fucking right in front of them.

“We didn’t know-know,” Lance says. “Until I caught our Space Dad trying to suck our Black Paladin’s soul out through his mouth!”

They all love Shiro and Keith, they really do, but Nadia would have died a happy woman without _that_ image in her head.

Keith closes his eyes. “Why would would you say it like that?”

At the same time Shiro says, “I’m not your dad.”

“I looked up to you!” Lance squawks. “You’ve betrayed the institution!”

Shiro rubs his face. He looks so young, and Nadia remembers that he’s like the rest of them — just trying his best to survive in a universe that wants him dead. Apparently, Lance is trying to do what the universe has failed to do on several occasions and make Shiro wish for a death that’s permanent.

“The institution of what?” Keith demands while his boyfriend glances cagily at the door.

“The … the institution of heroes!” Lance splutters like they should all know what he’s talking about. “He’s a role model for the children!”

Pidge rolls her eyes. Everyone around the table looks like they’d rather have another go with Sendak’s fleet rather than hear the rest of this conversation.

Keith stands up, pulling Shiro with him. Their fearless leader lets himself be dragged around like a rag doll by his boyfriend whose biceps are about the same size as Shiro’s ankles. “He’s still a role model for the children!” he says hotly. “What Shiro does in his private life has no effect on that.”

“Who,” Hunk mumbles from his chair beside Nadia. “It’s _who_ Shiro does that has no effect on … on … yeah.”

Nadia glances at him, aghast. “I thought you were cool.”

Hunk looks stricken, but he recovers and shrugs. “I guess it’s the world we live in now.”

“Uh, guys, what children are you talking about?” Pidge asks.

“I think Lance is talking about himself,” says Kinkade who has been careful to say as little as possible since he accidentally ended up teaching sex education to aliens during the team’s last emergency meeting.

“This is about him. He doesn’t care about the children,” Keith snaps as he and Shiro make a beeline for the door.

“We aren’t finished!” Lance says shrilly. “Where are you going?”

Shiro fixes Lance with the same stare he wore right before he stabbed the level eight training bot in the chest. “I didn’t get all of Keith’s soul before you interrupted us.”

“Why couldn’t you have just pretended not to see them, Lance?” Pidge growls as the door slams shut behind The Couple. “I’m never going to be able to look Shiro in the eye again.”

Ten minutes later, Keith and Shiro reappear just in time for afternoon drills. Both men look significantly happier — and significantly more bedraggled. Shiro’s jacket is misbuttoned, and Keith has another hickey to match the one below his left ear.

“Wow, great job, Lance,” says Pidge. “You’ve made it worse.”

_________________

If anyone expects things to settle down once Keith and Shiro’s relationship becomes common knowledge, they’re sorely mistaken.

No one has a problem handling the pair’s progression into PDA: hands on shoulders become hands on hips and soft looks become soft kisses. For the first time in a long time, the universe isn’t trying to tear the two apart. Shiro smiles more. Keith stops looking like he’ll stab the next person who breathes too loudly.

But it becomes the new normal to walk into a supply closet looking for a spare roll of toilet paper and instead find an extremely rumpled captain and a half-dressed paladin pawing at each other in the dark. Nadia learns the hard way to never look too closely at either man’s neck, and she develops a habit of coughing loudly before rounding any corners.

_________________

 Everyone at the Garrison prides themselves on their strength of character and their ability to rebound from the worst era in world history. Everyone lost something important when Sendak invaded Earth, and they’re familiar — too familiar — with suffering.

While most people her age ended up in alien work camps after the invasion, Nadia spent the majority of the war blowing up Galran cruisers and pushing the limit of Iverson’s patience. Nadia’s barely in her twenties, but she knows what it’s like to stare down an enemy fleet and be fully prepared to die for her planet.

There are some things that even the brutal alien invasion couldn’t prepare them for.

The Incident occurs on a Tuesday night after a late-night training session. The paladins and the MFE pilots, minus Shiro and Keith, are sprawled over the couches in the Garrison’s rec room when Lance disappears to the kitchen for popcorn. Pidge puts in a last-minute request for apple juice. Lance acknowledges her order. All is calm. No one is aware that life will never be the same.

Lance reappears two minutes later, skin a few shades paler and without the popcorn or juice. He leaves the room without a word (an uncommon occurrence for the Red Paladin) and returns with a bottle of disinfectant wipes. “The counter,” he mutters grimly. In his eyes there’s a hollow, haunted look — the eyes of a man who has seen too much and can no longer bear the burden. “They were on the goddamn counter.”

“Is nothing sacred?” Hunk moans.

In the days that follow The Incident, everyone takes it upon themselves to test out the food vendors setting up shop on the rubble of the demolished town just outside the Garrison. Even Hunk is spotted with an obviously alien-made cupcake that’s topped with radioactive green buttercream.

_________________ 

Shiro likes calling Keith “baby.”

It’s another fact added to Nadia’s List of Things She Doesn’t Want to Know About Shirogane and Kogane’s Relationship.

The team becomes aware of this during a training exercise when Keith perfectly executes a tricky maneuver, and Shiro says, “Nice work, baby.”

Lance nearly crashes his lion.

Pidge opens up a private channel with everyone except The Couple. “Did you guys hear what I just heard?”

Griffin groans. “Unfortunately.”

“It was probably an accident,” Nadia says, praying to whatever higher power responsible for the sanity of fighter pilots that she’s right, and that this incident isn’t a sneak peek of a new Thing That Shirogane and Kogane Do.

“This is Shiro and Keith we’re talking about,” Pidge says. “You okay there, Lance?”

“I am dead inside,” Lance replies woodenly. “I can’t believe I’ve survived everything the universe has thrown at me only to hear my hero call Mullet baby.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Allura says.

“How could you say that?” Lance wails.

In her typical rational way, Ina suggests that they never talk about the new development in Keith and Shiro’s relationship ever again. The difference between Ina and Nadia, though, is that Ina can compartmentalize. Nadia can't. The memory Shiro’s voice deepening as he called his boyfriend — who’s basically the equivalent of a space Navy SEAL — “baby” is going to stick with her forever.

“You know, that’s probably his bedroom voice,” Nadia says because she doesn’t want to suffer alone. “Like, that’s what he sounds like when he’s balls—“

Lance screams in horror, and the Red Lion nearly crashes into the Black Lion.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Lance?” Keith growls as he rights his lion.

Normally, Keith’s not-quite-human growl is enough to stop people in their tracks — even Nadia knows to back away when Keith sounds like he’s ten seconds away from showing everyone why he’s a top Blades agent despite being half the size of a fully grown Galran male. But Lance knew Keith back when, in Lance’s words, “he was a weird emo with the emotional control of a toddler.”

Plus, Nadia thinks that there’s not much that can scare Lance after walking in on The Couple during one of their … moments. “I’m tired of seeing you naked!” Lance snaps back as he reorients Red back into position. “Learn how to lock your door, or I’m going to sew your clothes onto you, Mullet.”

“Why would you even go near Keith’s room?” asks Pidge. “That’s just asking for trouble.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with Pidge on that one, man,” Hunk adds unhelpfully. “Anything is fair game in the bedroom.”

“I think you should rethink that sentence,” says Lance. “I’ve learned something about you today that I didn’t want to know.”

Nadia wonders how the Coalition would feel to know that its beloved paladins spend more time talking about sex than the fate of the universe.

_________________

It’s another fact added to Nadia’s list. Shiro doesn’t just like to call Keith “baby” — he likes to call him every single mushy pet name in existence.

Everyone learns to long for the days when “baby” was the only endearment in Shiro’s arsenal.

To be completely honest, most of the names that come out of Shiro’s mouth are absolutely awful, and Nadia doesn’t know how Keith sits through being called “the light of my life and pearl of my heart” with a straight face.

It might even be a … shortcoming of Shiro’s.

He tries, but he fails _every time_ to call his boyfriend something sweet and normal — all of Shiro’s pet names are twenty letters too long.

Nadia wishes for the simple days when she thought Shiro was perfect, when she didn’t know about his tendency to cram at least one endearment into every sentence directed at Keith.

And Keith — who Nadia didn’t think would be caught dead being referred to as “my precious love” or “darling of my life” or “my sweetest sweet pea” (yeah, Shiro didn’t really think that one through) — eats up every pet name Shiro throws his way with a smug smile. For his part, Keith usually restricts himself to calling Shiro by his given name, but he does occasionally slip up and call Shiro _sir_ during training exercises or team briefings. Whenever that happens, Shiro gets a peculiar look on his face and the pair usually disappears for a few hours soon after.

Everyone knows what they’re up to, but no one dares to comment on it. Some things are best left unsaid, and what Shiro and Keith do in their private life is one of those things.

“Remember the good old days when Mullet was allergic to feelings?” Lance moans as he takes it upon himself to hand out free earplugs and disinfectant wipes (he still hasn’t forgiven The Couple for defacing the kitchen counter).

Keith has waited five years (give or take a few years since time dilation is a strange thing) and millions of light years to touch Shiro’s dick. Nadia can’t blame him for taking advantage of that privilege, but she’s starting to forget what Shiro’s neck looks like without a few hickeys that are placed just _slightly_ too high up on his throat to be covered by his collar.

Despite it all, Nadia’s impressed. There’s no one else who can balance saving the universe on a daily basis with a rocking sex life — and still have time for leg day — like Takashi Shirogane.

_________________

Shiro calls Keith “my beautiful darling dove of my heart and soul” during a meeting.

Iverson is drinking coffee just as Shiro takes his atrocious pet name out for its maiden voyage, and he spits it onto Lance who is too busy staring at Shiro in open-mouthed horror to notice. Some of Iverson’s rejected coffee _definitely_ ends up in Lance’s mouth, but Nadia thinks that’s not quite as upsetting as watching his hero falter in such a devastating way.

Even Hunk and Romelle who think most of Shiro’s endearments are “kind of cute” look repulsed.

Everyone in the room holds their breath. This is the pet name that’s going to destroy Shiro and Keith’s relationship. There’s no way Keith, elite Blade fighter and the best pilot of his generation, will stand to be called something that sounds like the title of a bad Harlequin romance. It was a good run, but Shiro and Keith’s relationship has reached its end.    

Keith smiles beautifully and stretches up to peck Shiro on the mouth. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he says and leaves.

Forget the Atlas, forget antibiotics, forget space travel. _This_ is the miracle of the modern age. Keith Kogane loves Takashi Shirogane so much that he doesn’t bat an eye at Shiro’s inability to use a normal pet name. Of course, everyone already knew that there’s nothing that Keith won’t do for Shiro, but this almost says more about Keith’s devotion than refusing to let Shiro fall alone into the infinite void of space.

Keith seems to understand death as a completely reversible process when it comes to Shiro. Nadia isn’t sure if Keith should take the same approach to the death of Shiro’s dignity and the rest of the team’s sanity.

_________________

Three years later, Shiro reuses “beautiful darling dove of my heart and soul” during his wedding vows. Nadia cringes along with everyone else in attendance, but Keith doesn’t even falter.

It’s a universal truth that there is no one else who wears the mantle of perfection better than Takashi Shirogane. But there’s also a second universal truth that’s just as constant and just as true: in the observable universe, there’s no two people more perfect for each other than Shiro and Keith.

           

           

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not great with this technology thing, but I'm @commandoshirogane on tumblr so come say hi!


End file.
